By the time the week is out there will be more than a few unhappy people. These will comprise the losing election candidates and their supporters. Yet these same unhappy people have a vital role still to play in the government-forming process. Remember, there will be far more defeated candidates than successful ones.

But if the defeated and the disappointed make an immediate point of exhorting their supporters to accept the judgment of the people, they will do the country a major favor.

The attitude should be: "Thank you for your support; we haven't been successful this time but we will work very hard to win in five years' time. In the meantime it is important that we all accept the people's will and support the President's decision on the formation of the new government.''

Mr. Carlo told participants at a financial and banking services registrars’ meeting in Port Vila that small island countries continue to deal individually with international pressures against them.

"The problems we face are the same yet often little effort is made to take a common stand on some of these issues as a group," Mr. Carlo said.

In particular, he referred to pressure being put on Pacific offshore finance centers by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group that includes some of the world's richest nations. It has pressured some of the Pacific Islands centers not just over alleged money laundering but also over their tax businesses.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (September 4, 2001 - Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation/PINA Nius Online)---Solomon Islands government sponsored students at the University of Papua New Guinea may not be able to take their exams next week.

This was confirmed from Papua New Guinea by Pacific Students Association Vice President Selwyn Kole, who said the situation has arisen because of the Solomon Islands government's non-payment of money owed to the university.

Mr. Kole said currently there is no effective communication between the university administration and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education in Honiara about the students’ plight.

He has asked the Ministry of Education to quickly address the situation before the exam dates.

SIBC News also has been unable to obtain any comment from the ministry.

Mr. Kole said the Solomon Islands students are missing out on their allowances and are finding it very hard to cope with their academic activities....

The bill that would ban the sale, manufacture, distribution, and use of cleaning agents containing phosphates now heads to the desk of Governor Pedro P. Tenorio after it sailed through the Northern Marianas Senate on a unanimous vote.

Phosphate, though a naturally occurring substance, has been proven to be harmful, as it is non-biodegradable. When mixed with detergents, it eventually ends up at sea, which causes nutrient overload in the seas surrounding the islands, leading to potential eutrophication of coastal waters.

Eutrophication -- or the overloading of nutrients which leads to lack of oxygen in the water -- leads in turn to the destruction of the coral reefs and the habitat they provide for many marine organisms.

Besides banning the use of detergents containing phosphate, the bill also empowers...

The announcement came as Opposition Leader Bill Skate described the national broadcaster as a national disgrace with politicians meddling in its daily management affairs.

The Media Council said last week it was not the role of the council to interfere with or regulate the day-to-day operation of its members. But "it is however deeply concerned if the suspension is politically motivated."

Mr. Ealadona was suspended from duties last week apparently as a result of broadcasting news stories critical of the government.

"The concern is reinforced given the same swift removal of the former NBC managing director," council president Peter Aitsi said.

SUVA, Fiji Islands (September 3, 2001 - Pacific Magazine/PINA Nius Online)---Some of the Pacific's agricultural ministers met in Vanuatu to discuss what position the region should present at a Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) summit.

This is to debate what has been achieved since a summit five years ago at which 186 nations agreed on action to cut the number of hungry people in the world by half by 2015. The target was to cut the number by 20 million a year. The achieved rate is only eight million.

What does this have to do with the Pacific Islands? At the FAO regional office in Samoa they agreed that it's difficult to present the Pacific Islands as being a region of starving people.

True, a few years back, many Papua New Guineans needed food supplies after a drought and then unusually cold weather destroyed food gardens in the highlands. True, after a hurricane that destroys crops, or a spell of...

ALOFI, Niue (September 4, 2001 - Niue Economic Review/PINA Nius Online)---An Air New Zealand jet with 176 passengers and crew came within 10 seconds of landing in the ocean off Samoa last year, according to a New Zealand Star-Times newspaper investigation.

A faulty signal from a ground-based instrument navigation system has been blamed.

Civil aviation officials launched a major investigation into the incident in which disaster was averted by the pilots who finally pulled up the plane at about 200 to 300 meters (660 to 990 feet) from the ocean.

The Boeing 767 was being guided into Apia's Faleolo Airport by a faulty signal from the ground-based instrument landing system. The flight crew realized their peril with the help of other navigation systems and when they saw the ocean looming just outside the cockpit windows.

"At the lowest point of the approach the aircraft was 10 seconds from hitting the sea," said New Zealand Civil Aviation spokesman Martyn...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (September 2, 2001 - Pacific Magazines/PINA Nius Online)---News media executives and senior journalists from throughout the region will head for Papua New Guinea in October -- for an event that emphasizes that they are interested in more than just news.

Preparations are well under way for the Pacific's main news media conference of the year, the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) convention there October 14-21. And the theme is "The Media and the Pacific Child," with the keynote address to be given by Mehr Khan, Asia-Pacific Regional Director for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund.

The convention program, organized by the Papua New Guinea Media Council, will include extensive specialist sessions for PINA's radio, television, newspaper, magazine, and national association industry groups. But it will also emphasize the role the news media can play in such areas as the Pacific child and health, education, children's rights, employment, and...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (September 2001 – Pacific Magazine)---From Koror to Majuro and just about everywhere in between, the majority of health funding is spent for costly off-island medical referrals. Instead of investing in equipment and laboratory needs, for example, that would make it possible to spend less while treating more people locally, millions of dollars are spent so a few hundred patients can be sent to hospitals in Hawai‘i, Guam and the Philippines.

"The triangle of need is opposite of the budget funding" from the Legislature, is the way one Palauan doctor assessed the situation, a description that fits most islands. Almost without exception, big money goes into so-called "tertiary" — off-island — care, while primary health services at the village level are severely under-funded, and hospitals that provide secondary care don’t fare much better.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.